The Sexual Discrimination Reflected in the Chinese and English Appellation

田皓月

Abstract：Sexism，which reflects in many aspects of our life， such as job hunting， family roles， and social position， has been existing for many years. This thesis tries to investigate sexism reflected in English and Chinese appellations. The purpose is to disclose the common features of Chinese and English language that suggest the socially unjust attitudes towards women. This passage will help people have a better understanding that language is a mirror of the society.

Key words： sexism； language； womens movement； reasons

I. Introduction

In dictionary， sexism refers to “prejudice， stereotyping， or discrimination， especially against women， on the basis of sex”. In English， a person of unknown sex is referred to as “he” or “him” rather than “she” or “her”. A person who holds a meeting is called “chairman”， even if she is a woman. We can use “man” to refer to the human being instead of “women”. Masculine words are always put forward when occurred with the feminine words， for instance， “husband and wife”，“father and mother”， etc. Whats more， masculine words often bear positive connotations， conveying power， prestige， and leadership. Feminine words， however， is more often have negative connotations which represent weakness and subordination. This is especially reflected in Chinese .For example，“婦人之见”，“红颜祸水”，“拙荆”.

II. Reasons from Historical， Social and Cultural Perspectives

In western world， the creation of men by the Lord God in Bible provides not only the religious and conceptual ground for the everlasting idea that man is the master of woman， but also an association point of sex difference in language. Since the God first made Adam， and Eve was the “bone and flesh” of Adam， the masculine should be put in the first place in the “gender” category and womans language should be subordinate to mans.

It is undeniable that China has a long history of more than 5，000 years when the brilliant civilization was produced； however， unfortunately， this is also a period when Chinese women had been tortured socially and spiritually.

The origin of sexism can be traced to the prehistoric times .At that time， the society was very backward and people mainly live on hunting. Because men were more muscular， they played the role as hunters. Women were involved in gathering foods and caring for the children and home. Although the sex role of men and women were quite different， one was not valued over the other.

III. Reflection of Sexual Discrimination in Appellation

A. Name Addresses

The custom in western world to give names is that the name to be chosen often reflects the childs sex. Women are expected to play a passive role while men an active one. For example， girls are often given the names related to beauty， like Susana， Ruth， Lily， etc. While for men， it always carries the meaning of braveness， and the massager of God， like Donald， John， Alexander， etc. Sometimes women are often identified as something to be eaten. “Cute tomato， dish， peach， sharp cookie， sugar and sweet-pie” are some pet names for women. The active-passive contrast has also been shown in animal terms use to describe males and females. Males are referred to as studs ，wolves， bucks， which all have aggressive roles， but females have such pet names as kitten， bunny， beaver， bird， lamb and fox.

B. Professional Titles and Terms

Also contributing to the invisibility of women is the existence of lexical gaps in relation to nouns indicating professions and occupations. To be exact， female counterparts are often absent in relation to the more prestigious occupations （doctor， lawyer， judge and profession） to which women could not get accessed easily， or to occupations with strong male associations （pilot， bricklayer， officer， sailor）.Therefore womens occupational terms often need deriving from masculine ones by putting lady， woman， girl or female before them or by adding feminist suffixes， which often coincide with obvious diminutives.

In Chinese， “female”（女） is added in front of some terms for occupations that have traditionally been male-dominated， such as “authoress”（女作家）， “policewoman”（女警察）In Song Dynasty， the female members of famous “General Yangs army”（楊家将）are called “female members of General Yangs army”（杨门女将）to distinguish them from those male members.

IV. Evolution and Revolution

Language is the reflection of the society and it also can influence the society， so we should not neglect the importance of language. Today， one of the important human movements is feminist， which is the movement to eliminate sexism and achieve the equality between men and women. One of the results of the movement is the growing awareness of sexism in language .More and more people want to avoid language which is thought to discriminate women， and expressions which encourage stereotypical images of men and women， and opportunities legislation requires employers to offer a job without requiring that applicants for it should be a particular sex. Now there have appeared gender—neutralization and creation of woman—concerned language.

V. Conclusion

It is shown from above that although men and women of the same ethnic group， same society， and same nationality speak the same language， they do speak differently. The sex derogation can be found in many aspects of language. There really exists such kind of language variation in both English and Chinese language. Whether from the language used toward women and the way women speak， there both exists sexism. Women talk in a polite， tender， obedient way to please men in order to improve their status in society. The factors contributed to this phenomenon are various， with the combination of historical， social and cultural factors， the significant ones， and the biological factor， the essential one. Feminism has been one of the main social movements since 1960s， and there is no doubt that this movement will continue in this century. Its influence is felt in many societies around the world and in many spheres of life .The womens or feminist movement strives ，among other things， for the elimination of gender discrimination， and for the greater recognition of womens contribution to society， it also aims to change many cultural and social practices that perpetuate patriarchal value systems. Language was and is seen by many feminists as a powerful instrument of patriarchy.